Getty Jordan Love (left) of the Packers, and former teammate Aaron Rodgers
Over his last three games, Green Bay’s Jordan Love has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, passing for 857 yards and logging a quarterback rating of at least 108 in all three outings. No surprise that all three were wins, then, and no surprise that Love also recorded eight touchdowns and no interceptions in that span. Also no surprise: Love’s former teammate, Aaron Rodgers, is giving the Packers’ young passer the thumbs up.
But he is also doling out a warning to the Packers media and fans who were quick to roast Love when things were not going well and now are quick to anoint him as the team’s second coming. Rodgers says everyone registering overwrought opinions on Jordan Love needs to slow down.
“No, no I’m not,” Rodgers said on the “Pat McAfee Show” this week, when asked if he is surprised by Love’s recent play. “And, he’s playing, especially the last three games, he’s playing outstanding. But it’s his first year starting. As well as he’s playing, can we not crown him right now? For his own sake. Because we shouldn’t do that to kids. We shouldn’t crown them and we shouldn’t cancel them.”
“Jordan Love is playing outstanding these last three games..
I love Jordan & I think he’s gonna be a great player in the league for a long time..
Obviously I wish things had gone different when I was in Green Bay but I have so much love for that organization”
Aaron Rodgers: ‘I Wish I Had Done Better’
During the two seasons that Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love spent together with the Packers, the relationship was just cordial, and not exactly tight. It was not a secret that Rodgers was not happy in 2020 when the Packers took the rare step of using their first-round pick on Love—the only time in the last 13 drafts that the Packers have picked an offensive player in the first round.
Love, later, admitted that waiting behind Rodgers was, “difficult.”
Rodgers seemed to admit, too, that he could have been better in the situation himself. But he said that does not mean he is pulling for the Packers to lose or for Love to flop.
“Am I surprised by how Jordan has played? No. Am I happy for him? Hell yeah,” Rodgers said. “I think there’s, and there are some people who probably like this, but there are some people who probably think I was rooting against the Packers this year because of Jordan. Couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’m not a bitter person about that. Obviously, I wish things had gone different when I was in Green Bay. And there’s things that I wish I had done better. But I have so much love for that organization.”
Don’t Pile Pressure on Packers’ Jordan Love
Still, Aaron Rodgers worried about piling too much pressure on Jordan Love. Rodgers himself is now with the Jets and recovering from an Achilles tendon injury. But he pointed out that his own team in New York once kicked Geno Smith to the curb, and Smith nearly was out of the NFL altogether because of it.
But Smith bounced back to lead the Seahawks to the playoffs last year, at age 32.
“I love Jordan, I think he is going to be a great player in the league for a long time. But can we let him play his career? And it’s both sides, too,” Rodgers said. “A great example is Geno Smith. People just kicked him out of this town. And then he went and he was a backup for six years. And then he went to a Pro Bowl.”
Love has said he sometimes gets text messages from Rodgers, who wants to make sure the young Packers QB keeps his spirits up.
“If I catch Jordan’s game, I send him a message. … I keep in touch with how they’re doing,” Rodgers said. “I’m not surprised at all. I also think, for all these young guys that are playing, let’s give them some time to develop. You crown someone too early, the expectations, the weight of that, it’s tough to deal with. You bury somebody right away, dealing with that kind of negativity and pressure, it’s hard to come back from.”